London Times: London faces lockdown to thwart third terror strike

[DeepModem Mom]

August 01, 2005
London faces lockdown to thwart third terror strike
By Daniel McGrory and Sean O’Neill


THOUSANDS of police marksmen will be on London’s streets and rooftops again today after warnings that another team of suicide bombers is plotting a third attack on the capital.

The new group is believed to be made up of British Muslims who were understood to be close to staging an attack on the Underground network last week. According to security sources the men are thought to be of Pakistani origin but born and brought up in this country. They have links with the Leeds-based terrorist cell that staged the July 7 attacks, in which 52 innocent people died.

Even with the transport system so heavily guarded, police and intelligence sources believe that the bombers are intent on once more attacking London’s bus and Underground network. Another multiple suicide strike is also intended to demonstrate how the network can call on more recruits. The men are said to have access to explosives.

US security sources said yesterday that this third group of would-be bombers met at Finsbury Park mosque in North London, where some of the July 7 terrorists are also known to have stayed. There are reports that this team originally planned to strike last Thursday, which is why more than 6,000 police, half of them armed, were present at Underground stations. Scotland Yard said at the time that this exercise, the biggest since the Second World War, was to test their resources and reassure a nervous public....

***

There is concern among ministers and police at how long officers can continue such an intensive operation to “lock down” London while a threat remains. Although reinforcements have been brought in and leave has been cancelled, resources are stretched to keep up the guard on the capital, which is costing £500,000 a day. Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, admitted that his officers were “very, very tired”....


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22989-1716737,00.html

[goforit]

1. I guess Blaired has stirred his pot enough and got what he wanted

A religious jihad....

and by his own citizenry.

[merwin]

2. To the person who told me that London was far from becoming a police state

Looking any closer now?

Thousands of police flooding onto the mass transit system to make random arrests. Thousands of police marksmen sitting on rooftops waiting for the call to fire. London being referred to as being in a state of "lock down". Sounds like it to me.

[Warren Stupidity]

4. a "lock-down" is what you do to a prison. nt.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. A 'police state' is a state where the police have significant control

which has not happened yet - in fact, we were closer to a police state last year, when they were holding people indefinitely without trial in Belmarsh. That's now been changed to 'house arrest without trial', which is still bad, but that's the area to look, not in the presence of armed police on the streets. Most countries have armed police, but that hasn't meant they've always been 'police states'.

There is nothing in this story about 'random arrests'. I can't see any action to justify the phrase 'lock down' either - they don't tell us that any normal activiities have been stopped by the police.

[evermind]

11. Just a nitpick on your definition: A police state is one where the police

are arbitrarily used by the Government as agents of social control, or, as answers.com has it: "A state in which the government exercises rigid and repressive controls over the social, economic, and political life of the people, especially by means of a secret police force."

That is, in contrast to a state where the police act independently of the government to enforce laws and maintain order.

Legislation is indeed where to look for evidence of police state tendencies.. The public order act, curfews, etc., in Britain, and the whole bundle of homeland security, snitch-your-neighbour, etc., measures in the US, for example..

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. Yes, your definition is better (n/t)

[Fovea]

3. I guess ** didn't till Tony that the ** doctrine

allows 'over there' to include Britain.

[Chicago Democrat]

5. Sucks if true, sucks even more if not...

:(

[DeepModem Mom]

7. You got it, CD -- my heart goes out to the people of London. nt

[Taxloss]

8. From here in London, near Victoria station,

there has been a huge increase in helicopter activity. Two choppers have been circling all day (and driving me mad). However, there seem to be fewer sirens than usual - "usual" being the hugely elevated amount there were after 7 July. I see no evidence of lockdown, or even a further elevation of police activity, and my journeys today - and Mrs Taxloss' journey to work - were unimpeded.

[DeepModem Mom]

9. Thanks for reporting, Taxloss -- best to you and Mrs. Taxloss. nt

[Taxloss]

10. Thanks, all I can do.

When I heard the choppers thundering in this morning (the noise was incredible) I kept think "not again, not again, not again ...". But it seems to have been a precautionary measure - maybe they were scrambling air-ambulances to be "ready".

I can still hear one helicopter, but it's away to the north, not too close.

[emad]

13. UK top cop Sir Ian Blair has twice said on TV that the Met is

pretty exhausted at the constant firearms duty.

Translation: expect UK military troops to take over imminently.

[meganmonkey]

14. I was just thinking about that part of the problem - there can't possibly

be enough cops to handle all this extra work...

Scary thought.

x(

[emad]

15. The day the troops take over on the streets is the day that Poodle

and his gargoyle wife get thrown in the slammer.

[cliss]

16. L500,000 per day...

that's a lot of money. And it probably doesn't cover the regular costs of guarding the city.

I'm sure there are a lot of tourists packing their bags and leaving. Tour groups will be cancelling their trips because they're afraid of being sued, and conventions will be cancelled. Also, the subway will be losing revenue because people will be afraid to go on it.

I know of a couple of people who have cancelled their plans to go to England.

This is simply unsustainable in the long run. This is also why it's almost impossible to fight guerrilla warfare. The bombers act, and London reacts. They act again, and the city reacts. In between the attacks, everyone is on edge, petrified, never knowing when or where they will strike.

This was the most damaging part of all the fighting in Northern Ireland; no one wanted to come and visit. Tourism can be a huge source of revenue, and they will run from war zones.